Deliverance [Reissue]

Damnation [Reissue]

Lamentations [Reissue]

The Swedish band, which mixes psychedelia, prog, and extreme metal, reissues three ambitious studio albums and a live DVD from the early years of the millennium, records that found it transitioning from death growls to cleanly sung acoustic compositions.

Opeth are one of those bands who are great for starting arguments simply because they exist and do what they do. Not that they planned on it, presumably, but when you have people getting into endless flamewars about exactly what kind of metal the Swedish act performs-- or even if they're metal at all, thanks especially to last year's release of Heritage-- then they've done what any reasonable band should by not caring what they're called so long as it's out there. Doubtless bandleader/mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt loves that fact, even as he's on the road now on tour with Mastodon, probably hip-deep in comparing notes on King Crimson bootlegs with Brann Dailor.

That Åkerfeldt says, in the liner notes to Blackwater Park, that he's "reluctant to do reissues for no reason whatsoever" might explain why this particular clutch of rereleases-- three studio albums and a live DVD, Lamentations, from the early years of the millennium-- is essentially no more than a basic repackaging of what Sony had already done a couple of years previously in Europe, given that the original domestic issues here had already fallen out of print. (Lamentations provides a little bonus in that a separately released full CD version of the same show is now included with the DVD.) But perversely the time may be right for this kind of past focus where 10 years ago it was next to impossible to see bands like Opeth discussed outside of metal-centric circles to start with.

The reissues do reconfirm that Åkerfeldt and the band's then line-up-- currently only bassist Martín Méndez also remains, guitarist Peter Lindgren and drummer Martin Lopez having departed in recent years-- were perfect products of their death-metal-obsessed time and place regardless, with guttural singing and powerful riffing and more besides at work. The band had been going in one form or another for a decade when 2001's Blackwater Park came together, thanks in large part to a mutual admiration society with Porcupine Tree's leader Steven Wilson. His production help and encouragement teased out the band's explorations of acoustic-led arrangements as much as electric ones while further showcasing Åkerfeldt's sweet, clear singing as much as the roars on songs like "The Leper Affinity" and the title track.

In turn, the follow-up was even more ambitious, with Deliverance and Damnation originally planned as two halves of a big release then split into two albums that appeared in 2002 and 2003 respectively-- the first a "heavy" release, but following the same general blend as Blackwater Park, the second, also co-produced by Wilson, a thoroughly moody but never explosive album that ditched any expected death-metal touches entirely. Hearing songs like "Closure" and "In My Time of Need" from the latter is pretty well designed to make you think of contemplative classic rock melancholy rather than anything close to blast beats, while the title song of Deliverance showcases how skilled the band was at perfecting where calmer drift evolves into a full band crunch ridiculously well. The concluding half of that song is probably more monstrously memorable than anything on Blackwater Park.

The fact that the band covered Iron Maiden a couple of years before this run is as much of a sign as anything-- like the UK stalwarts and its guiding figure Steve Harris, not to mention his own contemporary Wilson, Åkerfeldt is openly enthralled with that era of the 1960s into the 1970s when it seemed like all kinds of riffage would rule the earth, often in tandem with whatever reflective, dazed, sorrowful, or just plain stoned routes progressive rock was creating. He's a stone-cold fanboy and doesn't hide it at all-- Blackwater Park takes it name from an obscure German band, Deliverance's "For Absent Friends" borrows the title from a Genesis song from Nursery Cryme, and so forth-- and he is serious, at times painfully so, about it.

Throughout all three albums, Opeth are about explicit formalism as stirring power via the rock gods-- the goal is far from new, but it's done so expertly that it's hard not to be impressed. Given just how equally formal and specific Porcupine Tree have become over the years, Wilson's influence on these albums is evident throughout, even on Deliverance where he only guests rather than also producing. Åkerfeldt says as much in the Blackwater Park notes, but you get a sense that a sheer level of obsessiveness on Åkerfeldt's part would have always been there, a desire to make everything sound just absolutely correct, huge and momentous when needed, controlled and calm otherwise.

Opeth's saving grace in this regard is that no one song on any album quite sounds like anything else on it-- there's certainly a defined range that's being explored intensely, but Blackwater Park has the reputation it does in large part because none of the songs follow the same songwriting formula, instead looking toward variations within general themes that all build to a dramatic conclusion in the title track. Yet Damnation may simply be the clearest statement of intent as well as the most surprising and entertaining album just because it flat-out goes for it-- hints of nearly everything on it can be heard on the two albums preceding it, but by eschewing the formalities of death metal entirely it also clearly demonstrates the abilities of all four players plus the constantly guesting Wilson as accomplished performers in general.

That album may not be the metal that longtime fans had expected or wanted perhaps, then or now-- but again, what matters so long as the results work? Given that in recent years Åkerfeldt has invoked albums like Scott Walker's glowering masterpiece The Drift as inspirations, he's keeping his ears open more than even he might have guessed.